American Truck Simulator
American Truck Simulator is a truck simulator game developed and published by the Czech company SCS Software. It was announced as being in development in September 2013 and unveiled at the E3 2015. It was released on 2 February 2016 for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS. The game is the parallel sequel to Euro Truck Simulator 2, the spiritual successor of 18 Wheels of Steel, and the third installment in the Truck Simulator series. Set in a condensed depiction of United States, the player can drive one of a choice of American-style conventional trucks, visiting various locations across the U.S., picking up a variety of cargos, and delivering them to its destination. Since its release, the game has sold over 2 million copies on Steam.
American Truck Simulator is a truck driving simulator with business management elements. Players drive trailer-hooked trucks and deliver loads to a designated location in order to be compensated with money and experience points. The payload must be delivered to the destination speedily within a given amount of time, and with the least amount of damage to the goods as possible, in order to net the most money and experience points possible.
In-game money, after being earned, can be used to purchase more trucks and associated aesthetic, mechanical, and structural upgrades, purchase fuel and repairs for those trucks, take out and repay loans from a bank, as well as hire drivers and purchase garages to house and base them in. The amount of money and experience points earned is commensurate on the length of the delivery in distance traveled as well as the type of goods being transported. When delivering goods, players can use their own personally-purchased truck or use one provided by an in-game company. When delivering goods using a fleet-provided truck, repairs and other costs are paid for by the company rather than out of the player’s in-game fund pool. Experience points can be accumulated and used to obtain perks, which improve the player’s driving ability and what kinds of payloads they can deliver, such as chemicals and explosives, which net a bigger reward when completed successfully.
In addition to driving and delivering goods, the player can manage a trucking business with hired drivers and owned properties. Hired drivers will perform deliveries on their own, netting the player money. The longer the drivers are hired, the more skillful they will become, thus increasing the amount of money they earn from each delivery. The player can train each driver to focus on a specific area of their driving that can be improved upon. Unlike in Euro Truck Simulator 2, the game features weigh stations, where players must stop at a designated weigh station in order to determine the weight of the cargo before proceeding through (though the game will sometimes allow them to bypass the station but avoiding it deliberately will result in receiving a fine).
